Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 71, Issue 5 1655-1662, Copyright © 1991 by American Physiological Society
The dystrophic hamster: an animal model of alveolar hypoventilation
E. H. Schlenker and J. A. Burbach
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion 57069.
The BIO 14.6 dystrophic hamster (DH) is a genetically determined animal
model of alveolar hypoventilation (AH) that exhibits a ventilatory control
pattern of compensation and then decompensation similar to that in
progressive forms of muscular dystrophy and nonprogressive congenital
myopathies in humans. Possible causes of AH in the DH include respiratory
muscle weakness, ventilation-to-perfusion inequalities, and an inadequate
drive to breathe. Histochemical and contractile abnormalities of the
diaphragm, reduced lung surface area available for gas exchange, abnormal
pulmonary microvascular reactivity to hypoxia, altered levels of
neurochemicals, and abnormal cellular regulation of calcium are among the
specific factors that may contribute to the development of AH. The
potential role of hypothyroidism in the development of AH is reviewed
because many hypothyroid patients exhibit AH and other ventilatory
dysfunctions, hypothyroidism is present in human patients and animals with
muscular dystrophy, and thyroid status is known to influence lung
architecture, myocyte function, and neural activity. Additional studies
linking neurohormonal signals, transcellular signal processing, and control
of ventilation in the DH may help us understand the etiology of AH in human
disease.
